Category Archives: holding

Shop Tip with Chip

Posted on August 29, 2020 by

I am savoring some restorative carving time this weekend, but just wanted to take a moment to share this stumbled-upon shop tip. I’ve been using this simple elm bench for various things for years.  I had never permanently affixed the … Continue reading →

Posted in holding, Uncategorized | Tagged , | 11 Comments

Dealing with Interlocked Grain

Posted on August 18, 2020 by

Trees do funny things.  This cherry was taken down a few months ago in a friend’s yard.  This section has a 4 1/2″ radius and 55 growth rings.  We tend to think of the fibers going straight up the trunk … Continue reading →

Posted in bowls, cherry, figure, finding wood, green woodworking, holding, trees, Uncategorized | Tagged , , , | 11 Comments

Catching up with the Bowl Horse

Posted on July 30, 2020 by

There are many ways to get to a bowl horse.  If you’re still thinking about adding one to your shop, I’ll recap some of the options, including some new possibilities. My first bowl horse concept, seen in the photo above, … Continue reading →

Posted in carving, holding, Uncategorized | Tagged , , | 7 Comments

Little Hens

Posted on June 8, 2020 by

The walnut rooftop chickens I roughed out back in the spring are waiting for me.  Meanwhile, a friend took down a cherry tree in his yard and I used a piece to make a pair of mini versions.  It gave … Continue reading →

Posted in bird bowls, bowls, cherry, green woodworking, holding, layout, patterns, sketch, tools, Uncategorized | Tagged , | 16 Comments

Back to the Hens

Posted on April 17, 2020 by

I remember first seeing The Serenity Prayer on a trivet that hung on my grandmother’s kitchen wall: God, grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, courage to change the things I can, and wisdom to know … Continue reading →

Posted in bird bowls, bowls, holding, layout, Uncategorized, walnut | Tagged , , | 13 Comments

Hungarian Super Bowl

Posted on February 7, 2020 by

Now that the Super Bowl of American football is over, feast your eyes on some amazing feats of coordination and teamwork in Hungary.  I believe the narration is in Hungarian, but the video is multi-lingual.  Huge bowls like this seem … Continue reading →

Posted in bowls, historical reference, holding, Uncategorized, video | Tagged , | 27 Comments

In the Beginning

Posted on October 6, 2019 by

Wanting to make another big cherry shrink pot like the one in this post, I put my big folding saw in my pack and walked to a nearby woodlot where a cherry tree had fallen a few months ago.  The … Continue reading →

Posted in cherry, holding, shrink box, tools, Uncategorized | Tagged , , , | 12 Comments

Bowl Horse at Fifteen

Posted on September 25, 2019 by

It’s been fifteen years since I built my log bowl horse, and it’s still serving well and regularly in my workshop.  I mentioned it in this article, but the focus there is more on building the more portable version from … Continue reading →

Posted in holding, tools, Uncategorized | Tagged , , | 11 Comments

Rooftop Bird with 12/12 pitch

Posted on February 12, 2019 by

It’s been a couple years since I wrote this post about a bowl orientation I call a rooftop bowl.  In it, I discussed working with this type of blank and suggested experimenting with quarter-log splits and other angles.  Of course, … Continue reading →

Posted in bird bowls, bowls, finding wood, holding, layout, Uncategorized, walnut | Tagged , , , | 23 Comments

Tampa BowlMates

Posted on February 9, 2019 by

Last weekend’s Fine Woodworking Hands-On event in Tampa was a rich experience.  Never having been to Florida, it was a bit surreal for me; temperatures in the upper 70s in February, palm trees, a manatee…like another world. Kate Swann, Carl … Continue reading →

Posted in classes, events, holding, Uncategorized | Tagged , | 3 Comments